


you are home (for christmas)

by blymoon



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Christmas Time, F/F, Secret Santa, fluff for the soul
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:21:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28260816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blymoon/pseuds/blymoon
Summary: It was the day before Christmas eve, and The Leafling was packed full of people. People shopping for last minute party gifts. People shopping for poinsettias. People shopping for center pieces for their Christmas dinner tables.And the worst: people asking, again and again, for mistletoe. Never could Jamie have predicted that such a simple little plant, with its silly little tradition would come to be her own personal nemesis.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 12
Kudos: 134





	you are home (for christmas)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Simmons_xx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simmons_xx/gifts).



> This is for the damie secret santa exchange on tumblr. I hope you enjoy!

Jamie had learned a great many things during their time in Vermont. She’d learned which plants could wether the changing of the seasons. She’d learned that when most people walk into a flower shop, they’re not looking for a flower — they’re looking for a message. For a way to translate the love, or regret, or grief in their hearts into something small and tangible. Or into something fleeting.

She’d learned (very quickly that first winter) that she did not like snow after all, because while beautiful to watch through the window with her love in her arms, while peaceful to stand in when the rest of the world fell to a hush, snow was also, well, cold. And wet. And a god damn son of a bitch to shovel off the driveway. 

Jamie had learned things about herself too.

Never before had she been in a relationship long enough to know how someone else prefers their oatmeal (slightly undercooked, to retain its texture, with chopped up dates and a splash of heavy cream). Never before had she woken to someone else’s alarm just to spend an hour together before starting her day. Never had she said, “I love you” and known with everything in her that it was absolutely true.

Jamie learned things about Dani, too. So many things that some nights, as she wrote in the journal she kept by her side of the bed, she would find herself having filled three pages with Dani, and nothing else.

She wanted to fill her life with Dani. To remember every moment, so that nothing could ever fade away, for the details of their life to recede slowly like outgoing tide. 

Every moment with Dani was something precious to be kept.

Dani said her name with reverence, mouth pressed to her ear in prayer. Dani touched her face, reverently, memorizing the details so that they may never wash away. Dani pushed into her body like a flood, drowning out the loneliness until she was weeping.

Dani loved her until she was full, and then kept on loving her, cupping the overflow in outstretched hands to be brought to her lips to drink. 

As she lay beside her wife each night (and maybe that wasn’t what others would call her, but it was what she had been in Jamie’s heart since that very first day) she knew what it meant to be home.

And she learned what it meant to be happy. 

Sure, she was still grumpy most mornings before she’d had her tea, and distrustful of strangers who looked at them a little too long in the grocery store. But a tiger doesn’t have to change her stripes to be worthy of love.

Most days Jamie was at peace.

On this day, however, she was what felt like only moments from pulling her own hair out. 

It was the day before Christmas eve, and The Leafling was packed full of people. People shopping for last minute party gifts. People shopping for poinsettias. People shopping for center pieces for their Christmas dinner tables. 

And the worst: people asking, again and again, for mistletoe. Never could Jamie have predicted that such a simple little plant, with its silly little tradition would come to be her own personal nemesis. 

Not only was was it damn hard to find in the first place, but each little sprig required careful wrapping with a delicate red bow, and a silverbell, and a small hook at the top to make it easily affixed to the tops of doorways. 

“Little parasite,” Jamie said darkly to the piece of mistletoe she was currently decorating. She’d sliced her finger on a scissor blade while curling the ribbon, and was in a foul mood.

“I think it’s sweet,” Dani said as she passed behind her, arms full of two giant bouquets colored with purples and reds. The store was warm with the press of bodies, and Dani’s cheeks were flushed from rushing around. She looked so beautiful with her blonde hair swept back in a quick ponytail that for a moment Jamie forgot what she was mad about. 

Her finger gave a painful throb, and she remembered. 

“Next year, no mistletoe, I’m making a rule!”

“Aw, but the people love it, and it’s a great up sell. Last week I sold two dozen sprigs to the community center for their holiday party.”

Dani passed the bouquets she was holding over the counter to a a tall man with a bushy mustache and a newsboy cap dusted with snow. 

“And who ended up prepping all of those sprigs?”

“I believe it was you.”

“Ding, ding. A prize for the lady!”

Dani handed the man his change and wished him a goodnight, before slipping behind Jamie to head back into the main part of the shop. As she passed, she paused long enough to whisper into Jamie’s ear.

“I’ll take one kiss beneath the mistletoe.”

Jamie’s own cheeks flushed then, love and longing coursing warm through her veins. Dani laughed and continued off to help an elderly woman who was comparing roses. 

“Too bad there won’t be any left!” she called after her.

They’d gone through three rounds of stock already, and these last few bunches were destined for the high school’s winter formal. 

She finished wrapping the last piece of ribbon, and tucked the final piece of demon plant into a large paper bag.

The bell above the door jingled, and a woman with dark skin and sparkling eyes entered, a rush of cold air blowing in behind her. She was bundled up in a thick winter coat, with a scarf long enough to wrap three times around her neck.

“You’re right on time, Nora. I just finished up your order.”

Nora dropped her oversized handbag onto the counter and began rifling through it. She was the high school principal and a regular customer. Since Dani has started volunteer tutoring they’d all become close enough to be friendly. 

After a moment Nora produced her wallet from the depths of her giant bag. She gave Jamie an appraising look and laughed.

“What’s the matter?” she asked with the voice of someone who spent her days navigating the turbulent moods of teenagers.

“I’m grumpy,” Jamie did her best to hold a scowl.

“Well, when aren’t you?” Nora shrugged, handing over a few bills in exchange for the bag full of mistletoe.

“Hey!” Jamie gasped in mock offense. “I’ll have you know I am a delight. Dani?” she called, “will you please tell this woman that I am a delight?”

Across the busy shop her wife simply laughed, giving them both a wave as she helped the old woman assemble an intricate bouquet of roses.

“I’ve got your poinsettias ready too,” Jamie said, turning back to Nora and trading her grumpy facade for an easy grin. “Need any help lugging them out to your car?”

“No, I’ve got it. It’s a madhouse in here. Go help your wife.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She watched as Nora slung the bag of mistletoe over one arm, her purse over the other, and scooped up two giant poinsettias, before disappearing back out into the snow in a flurry of bags and flowers. 

It was another two hours before things died down enough for them to close up shop, and Jamie was feeling every minute. Her feet were tired, her finger was sore, and she wanted nothing more than to go upstairs to their apartment and kiss her wife. 

Dani’s hair had slipped a little from its ponytail, and she’d pulled on a thick wool cardigan as the shop cooled around them. 

“What a day, huh?”

“Another one for the books,” she hung her apron up on its designated hook behind the counter, before holding out a hand to tangle their fingers together. The lights were low, the open sign flipped to closed, and as the snow fell peacefully outside it was as if they were the only two people left in the world. 

“Shall we retire for the evening?” she asked, pulling Dani gently along to the back stairs. She followed easily, her palm warm and soft against Jamie’s own. 

When Jamie had just began to climb the first steps, Dani paused, giving her arm a little tug. 

“There’s just one more thing,” Dani said with a wide smile, her eyes shining as Jamie turned back around to face her. Before she could ask what, she saw her wife pointing to the top of the small doorway above them.

There, tied with a red ribbon and silverbell, was the last sprig of mistletoe. Jamie couldn’t even pretend to be grumpy. 

She allowed herself to be pulled into Dani’s arms, her hands sliding easily around her waist to press their bodies close. She brushed her nose lightly across Dani’s before capturing her lips in a soft kiss. 

And then another, and another. 

By the time they broke apart they were both flushed and grinning. 

“Okay,” Jamie conceded, resting her forehead against Dani’s and holding her close. “Maybe mistletoe isn’t so bad.”


End file.
